Besieged by protests and confronted with a list of demands from activists weary of police shootings that seem spawned from a need to control than to protect, the Memphis Police Department released the names of the three officers involved in the Sept. 17 shooting of Martavious Banks.

Jamarcus Jeames, 26, Christopher Nowell, 27, and Michael R. Williams II, 27, were all part of the Sept. 17 traffic stop in South Memphis in which Banks, 25, was critically wounded.

Identities released of officers involved in South Memphis shooting(Photo: Memphis Police Department)

Apparently, officers tried to pull Banks over after a scan of the license plate of the car he was driving, which belonged to his mother, raised flags about insurance. Banks apparently fled, a chase ensued and Jeames shot at Banks.

But while the MPD has claimed that Banks was armed, Jeames' body camera, or rather, the apparatus that might have proved that, wasn't activated. On top of that, a witness told The Commercial Appeal that the officers began firing at Banks without verbally warning him.

So, Jeames, Williams and Nowell have been placed on leave as the department as the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation probes the incident.

Nonetheless, by releasing their names so soon — something that sometimes takes months or years to occur — does something else: It gives the public a chance to investigate, as well, by looking at the officers' records.

In other words, it can help the public keep the police honest. Which is good, because much of what is already known about the shootings raises questions about such honesty.

Williams, for example, has been investigated for turning his camera off during a traffic stop in Aug. 2017. All three officers have been investigated separately for damaging motor vehicles.

While the outcomes of those investigations are unclear, hints of either recklessness or carelessness run through them all.

That's something that the MPD, three years after a police officer fatally shot 19-year-old Darrius Stewart, can't afford as it struggles to improve trust with the community.

K.B. Turner, associate professor and chair of the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Memphis, lauded the MPD's decision to release the officers' names.

"I think it was a wise response, considering what's going on around the country," Turner said. "The longer the delay, the more it encourages suspicion."

It also helps that Mayor Jim Strickland has publicly vowed to get answers, saying that before Banks' shooting, there had been around 40 camera violations in the police department.

Which shows, in addition to what's already been revealed about Jeames, Williams and Nowell, that the MPD may have to grapple with a deeper issue: Disbanding the notion of police infallibility.

Janice Banks, mother of Martavious Banks, marches next to Barbara Buress during a protest for the police-involved shooting of Martavious Banks.(Photo: Phillip Jackson)

If officers are turning off their body cameras or not bothering to turn them on, they may be assuming that the authorities will take their word for what happens in certain situations — especially if that situation involves a person who has run afoul of the law, or who lives in a high-crime neighborhood.

That level of comfort is not unfounded. I'm receiving e-mails from people who seem to believe that Banks' fleeing from the police should be a license for the police to kill him.

But now Black Lives Matter activists and others are challenging such assumptions. Police shootings are scrutinized more and police who operate in struggling neighborhoods must have the trust of the people there — something they jeopardize if they use force recklessly or carelessly.

"The Memphis Police Department continuously works toward building stronger relationships with all citizens," reads a statement from MPD spokeswoman Lt. Karen Rudolph.

"Being thorough, transparent, and holding all accountable relative to all incidents is of the utmost importance. Understanding that releasing information is of high interest to our citizens, we work to release all available information as soon as possible."

So again, it was a good move by the MPD to quickly release the names of the officers involved in Banks' shooting. Hopefully, it will be the start of many such moves to build community trust.